Thursday, December 8, 2011

Welcome to this week's episode of Roguelike Radio. Episode 15 features 3 Angband variant developers taking a quick time out from their grinding schedules to discuss Quickband, and Angband variants in general. Talking this week are Andrew Doull, Tom Demuyt and Brian Bull.The mp3 of the podcast can be downloaded here, played in the embedded player below, or you can follow us on iTunes.

Topics covered this week include: - 3 guys reminiscing about a great band from the early 90s - Some theories why Angband has ended up with so many variants - Why the numbers in Angband go up to 11 - Many many Angband variants which are listed on this page

Join us next week for discussion of the history and future of roguelikes.

11 comments:

Never got into bands. I think it was the town that threw me. I was used to nethack where you go right into the dungeon. I'll give Quick a try. I downloaded it the other day but haven't messed with it yet.

Same here -- I've tried a couple of 'bands (not Quickband yet), and none of them have hooked me the way other rogue-likes have. I could blame the town as well, except that I also play non-rogue-like RPGs (like the TES games) and they don't bother me there. I'm sure it has to do with how I play rogue-likes -- as a kind of nerdy intellectual type of fun, as opposed to mainstream rpgs, which appeal more to my gut and emotions.

When I play a mainstream rpg, I like to feel immersed in a world, where I feel like I AM the character I'm playing, so day to day minutiae like buying food, and drink and gabbing with the local merchants can add to the immersiveness. In a rogue-like, it's ONLY about getting the items you need to survive, so dealing with npcs like a shopkeeper (especially when the interface is so unfriendly) is a lot less fun.

Good show - might want to think about press-to-talk mic functionality... either that or teach the baby to opine about roguelikes ;p

Regarding the inevitable comparison between *bands and all other roguelikes, it's pretty simple. *bands are loot-fests in the spirit of Diablo and thus quite addictive if that kind of thing appeals to you. All other roguelikes are less looty and more "thinky" which is fine but (like everything else) it boils down to preference.

Myself, I start every game anxious to find thay sweet sweet artifact and so, will always be a *bander at heart.

"*bands are loot-fests in the spirit of Diablo and thus quite addictive if that kind of thing appeals to you."I actually hadn't played enough to notice that (I never played enough to get the really cool items, I guess).

That said, I used to play EQ way back when. I always thought that playing to get the really cool items too often brought out the worst in people (including me). But I don't really see a problem with it in single player games. It's just not what motivates me.

I've always found Angband too slow and grindy for my tastes ... if I wanted to slowly level up and find new loot I'd rather play a game without permadeath so that I didn't break anything when I typo'd in my fourth hour consecutive hour of play, lol. There might be variants I'd enjoy, but there were just too many for me to bother sorting through. TOME 2 was the exception though, it was actually my favourite roguelike for a while. The skills, enemies, dungeons and all were fun and varied, but the optional quest system (defeat a group of the same tough monster without leaving the level for a good reward) was what finally hooked me. Good times.